Using nanobiopsy to see how tumours change during treatment

Fast Facts

Title: Using nanobiopsy of single brain tumour cells to assess transcriptional reprogramming during standard therapy

Lead Researchers: Dr Lucy Stead

Where: University of Leeds

When: December 2018- December 2020

Cost: £119,690 over an 2 year period

Research type: Adult, Glioblastoma (High Grade) Academic

What is it?

This project is using advanced technology called nanobiopsy to extract tiny samples from living cells without killing them.

Over the course of treatment, the team - led by Dr Lucy Stead at University of Leeds - will be able to take samples to see how the tumour changes.

The technique

In the lab, a small amount of material is taken from within a single tumour cell, and a very small amount of dye is added into the cell so the researchers can find it again later. The tumour cells are then treated with radiation and chemotherapy to mimic a patient’s treatment. Afterwards, another small amount of cellular material is taken from the same cell. Both samples are compared to find out how the treatments have changed the cell.

Why is it important?

Glioblastomas are the most common, and one of the most aggressive types of brain cancer found in adults. The standard treatment involves surgery to remove as much of the tumour as possible, followed by radiotherapy and chemotherapy.

However, the tumour always grows back, so we need to understand why these treatments are failing.

What we don't know is whether glioblastoma cells are naturally resistant to treatment or whether treatments cause changes within the cells that make them resistant.

By analysing the same cell before and after treatment, we can see if there are changes which make it resistant to treatment, or if the treatment was never going to kill the tumour completely. When we know this, we can find new treatments that will work better.

Who will it help?

People with glioblastoma, now and in the future.

I am a computational brain tumour biologist and my research team's goal is to identify and characterise the specific brain tumour cells that currently resist treatment so we can develop more effective drugs to kill them.

Dr Lucy Stead, University of Leeds

Milestones

Achieved

Dr Stead and colleagues have already developed the technology that allows them to take minute samples from a brain tumour cell and leave it alive.

Anticipated

They will now move into the exciting phase of analysing the tumour cells, giving them chemotherapy and radiotherapy, and seeing the changes.

How will my money help?

£6 could pay for two nanopipettes - one to sample a cell before treatment, and one for after

£60 could pay for an hour on the machine that helps to sort single cells

£300 could pay for a special dye that helps us to track individual cells, so they can be retested after treatment

£1,135 could pay for a lane on a sequencing machine which will profile 96 single cells in one go

Recommended reading

"I was first inspired to work in brain tumour research in my teens, by an episode of 'ER' in which one of the doctors was diagnosed with a glioblastoma and told it could not be cured. It struck me quite hard that a cancer diagnosis could be without hope and the fight to try and stop any patient receiving such news in the future still motivates me and my team today." Dr Lucy Stead